‘Citizens Comments’ for city DDA moved back to beginning of meeting

After a lively discussion, the item called “Citizen Comments” that gives citizens a chance to address concerns about Belleville Downtown Development Authority agenda items before the DDA votes on them was moved back up to the beginning of the agenda.
It had been moved to the end for the March 9 DDA special meeting.
At the end of the meeting, Tom Fielder spoke up about the comments now being at the end of the meeting so citizens can’t comment on the actions proposed until after the decisions were made.
Fielder is a retired Belleville High School civics teacher, former mayor and son of a late mayor, and city councilman, and was about to be sworn in as a new member of the planning commission.
DDA chairwoman Alicia McGovern said with the comments at the beginning, members of the audience have taken over the meeting with their talking.
She said other municipal bodies have their comments at the end and she wanted an orderly meeting. She asked him to refer to Robert’s Rules of Order and he replied Robert’s doesn’t mandate how they run their meeting.
After the Independent joined with Fielder in saying people cannot participate in the meeting if they can’t talk until all the decisions are made, McGovern relented.
She said she will move the comments back to the beginning and asked Fielder if he was satisfied.
“You were going down the wrong path,” Fielder said.
The special meeting was called to discuss the proposed DDA-City Maintenance Agreement being set up for the coming fiscal year. But it began with an audit presentation by Kelly Howey of Plante Moran who explained the audit performed on city funds by Alan C. Young and Associates. The audit got an Unmodified Opinion, which is the top rating. It also showed the DDA had enough money to enact the new Maintenance Agreement that would pay more money to the city.
Tim McLean, deputy city manager and DDA Director, reported the current Maintenance Agreement has been in effect since 2017. Since then, the level of service that the City of Belleville provides to the DDA has not changed. However, the percentage of property tax revenue contributed from the DDA to the City to perform those services has decreased in each year of the agreement. Additionally, he said, the cost to perform those services has increased.
To sustain current and enhanced service levels, the city has proposed the necessary increases to cover the costs of providing those services, McLean wrote in a memo. Accountant Kelly Howey has reviewed the proposed cost increases and has confirmed that these increases are necessary to maintain existing service levels, he said.
City Manager/Police Chief Dave Robinson said he would have the updated agreement ready for a vote for the March 16 regular DDA meeting.
At the special meeting, the DDA also discussed proposed projects for 2022.